Michael P. Maslanka

Michael P. Maslanka is managing partner of the Dallas office of Constangy, Brooks & Smith. His e-mail address is mmaslanka@constangy.com. He is board certified in labor and employment law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. He writes the “Work Matters” column for Texas Lawyer’s In-House Texas publication and records labor and employment podcasts that can be found at www.texaslawyer.com.

March 01, 2013

Harness the power of imagery to influence actions

Mediators may want to display the Chinese yin-yang symbol in their offices. At least that's the lesson I drew from an article in the March 2013 issue of the Harvard Business Review, "When In Chinatown, You Really Do Think More Chinese." Adam Alter discusses his research, which indicates that Eastern cultures see the world as progressing back and forth between opposite states, while Western cultures see the world as progressing forward in one direction.

So, when American and Chinese people who were participating in research received an imaginary $1,000 to invest, the Americans invested in previously appreciating stocks, while the Chinese invested in underperforming stocks in anticipation of a correction.

The article mentions that people process symbols much more quickly than we process words, and exposure to a symbol can prime us to take certain actions. (Those subliminally primed with an Apple logo perform tasks in a more creative manner than those primed with IBM's logo, according to the HBR piece.)

So, a mediator can prime litigants to understand that the world is fluid, not rigid. Imagery indicating this understanding may prime litigants to find a settlement to be reasonable, believe it or not.